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Thursday, December 12, 2013

MOOCs grow the gap

This study contributes to a growing body of research on academic achievement of students in online courses. In a recent meta-analysis of studies comparing online to inperson courses (2009), the U.S. Department of Education found that there was no significant difference between student achievement in online and traditional courses, although a small increase was noted for hybrid courses that combined the two methods. However, when these studies were further analyzed by at-risk student population demographics lower achievement was found in online courses (Jaggars & Bailey, 2010). This finding has been recently expanded by Xu and Jaggars (2013) in a study that investigated how different types of students—including groups that share characteristics found, particularly, among students from AOLE’s partner high school—perform in online learning courses. Using course grade and course completion as dependent variables, Xu and Jaggars found that while all students did less well in online courses, some student groups were more negatively affected from taking courses in this mode. These students were males, youngerstudents, studentswithlowerlevelsacademicskills, and AfricanAmericanstudents. [emphasis added] The study also found that the negative impact of online learning was exacerbated when groups of students comprised of those who adapt least well to online learning study together. It should be noted that the study, based on research conducted across Washington State on 500,000 online and face-to-face course enrollments (and 41,000 students), did not distinguish between different types of online learning environments, faculty preparation, or support services available to students. The Xu and Jaggars study confirms prior findings in previous smaller studies, which also found that students from at-risk demographic groups and introductory courses had lower performance in online courses compared to other students, thereby exacerbating the well-documented achievement gap in higher education (Kaupp, 2012; Xiu & Smith, 2011, Terenzini & Pascarella, 1998).PRELIMINARY SUMMARYSJSU+ AUGMENTED ONLINE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTPILOT PROJECTSeptember 2013Prepared for Principal Investigator: Elaine D. Collins, Ph.D

1 comment:

momod4
said...

Quelle shock! "At-risk" students are less able, less prepared and/or less-motivated, so they do less well than more able, prepared and motivated students. Since this group has not demonstrated large-scale success on the academic path, perhaps it's time to consider good voc ed. It's a huge pity that past legal rulings have prohibited aptitude tests, of the ASVAB type, which are designed to funnel kids into fields where they show aptitude and where success is likely. My hairdresser freely admits that, if current HS grad requirements of chem, algebra II and physics had been in effect, she never would have made it through HS. She's very good at cutting hair, however, and has had the salon's highest request rate for years.